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Get 0.85p per Avios when you spend points in Qatar Duty Free this Christmas

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If you are passing through Doha’s Hamad Airport this Christmas or New Year, there is a special offer if you earn or spend Avios in Qatar Duty Free.

You have been able to use your Avios to pay, in full or in part, for purchases at virtually every shop and restaurant at Doha’s Hamad International Airport – over 170 of them – for two years now.

The rate per point was not outstanding, but with this special offer it looks more attractive. The deals run to 12th January.

Earn and spend Avios at Qatar Duty Free

Before we go on, note that in order to spend Avios in Qatar Duty Free your Avios need to be sitting in a Qatar Airways Privilege Club account or you need your British Airways account to be linked to your Qatar Airways one.

This HfP article shows how to link your Qatar Airways Privilege Club and British Airways accounts.

What is the special offer?

Full details of the deal are on this page of the Qatar Airways website.

Spending Avios at Qatar Duty Free is an incredibly slick process (I went down to Doha to try it out for a HfP article when it launched). Of course it helps when the airport, the duty free operation and the airline are under the same ownership!

During your time in Hamad you simply scan your boarding pass when buying anything in the airport. The cashier will instantly see how many Avios you have in your Qatar Airways Privilege Club account, and you can choose to use some or all of them towards your purchase.

(If you are crediting your flight to British Airways Executive Club or another programme and your Qatar Airways Privilege Club number is not on your boarding pass, you can show your Qatar Airways Privilege Club membership card on your phone instead.)

For security reasons, Avios can only be redeemed from an account which matches the name on the boarding pass.

Qatar Duty Free spend Avios

What is the Avios spend rate at Qatar Duty Free?

The standard rate is 0.65 cents per Avios redeemed, which is currently 0.51p.

This isn’t great, although it is is identical to transferring your Avios to Nectar and spending them in Sainsburys or Argos.

What tilts the balance is that you will also get a discount on your purchases at Qatar Duty Free when you pay with Avios.

The standard discounts rates are:

  • Burgundy members: 10% discount (this is the ‘no status’ level you get for signing up)
  • Silver members: 15% discount
  • Gold members: 15% discount
  • Platinum members: 20% discount

However, until 12th January, the rates are:

  • Burgundy members: 40% discount
  • Silver members: 43% discount
  • Gold members: 43% discount
  • Platinum members: 47% discount

There are some exclusions to the discount which you can find on this page of the Qatar Airways website.

Now it starts to look interesting.

  • You make a $100 (equivalent) purchase in Qatar Duty Free
  • By agreeing to pay wholly with Avios, as a Burgundy member the cost is reduced to $60
  • At 0.65 cents per Avios, the purchase costs you 9,230 Avios
  • This works out at 1.08 cents per Avios, or 0.85p
Earn and spend Avios at Qatar Duty Free

What happens if you only want to part pay with Avios?

If you don’t have enough Avios to pay for an item in full, you will also get a special deal although at a slightly lower rate.

The standard rate is 0.65 cents per Avios.

Until 12th January, you will get a 50% bonus – so 0.975 cents per Avios. This is 0.77p per Avios.

It’s not as generous as paying in full with Avios but still not bad. I know that many HfP readers were happy to move Avios to Nectar when the rate was 0.8p per point (now reduced to 0.5p) so the same people should be interested in redeeming here.

What is the Avios earn rate at Qatar Duty Free?

You earn Avios on duty free purchases in the same way – scan your boarding pass to bring up your Qatar Airways Privilege Club account number, or have your membership card scanned.

The Avios earning rate on purchases at Qatar Duty Free is usually 1 Avios per 5 Riyals (£1.08). During this promotion it is doubled to 2 Avios per 5 Riyals (£1.08). These need to be credited to a Qatar Airways Privilege Club account but can be easily moved over to a linked British Airways Executive Club account.

You also earn status points on your duty free shopping

I won’t go into this in detail because few of our readers are earning elite status via Qatar Airways Privilege Club.

If you are, it is worth knowing that you earn 1 Qpoint for every $100 spent at Qatar Duty Free. See here for full details and exclusions.

During this current promotion, until 12th January the rate is doubled to 2 Qpoints for every $100 spent.

Conclusion

Whilst spending Avios at Qatar Duty Free doesn’t offer the greatest value out there, this special offer makes the deal worthy of consideration.

Even if you choose to pay cash for your duty free purchase, don’t forget to give your Qatar Airways Privilege Club number and earn double the usual number of Avios back.

Full details of these special earn and burn Avios offers at Qatar Duty Free can be found on the website here.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

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Barclaycard Avios card

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There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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The Platinum Card from American Express

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Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

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There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

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There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

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Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

Comments (13)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Gordon says:
    19 Dec19 December 08:43

    I don’t bother with the Duty free areas anymore, unless there is a niche product i can’t purchase on the high street in the uk.

    Last month leaving LHR 1L of Bombay gin was £12, (rarely have I seen it that price) and on the return it was £21? Not sure I want to lug a bottle or two around on my trip on the outbound leg!

    I visited Tesco for example yesterday, and stocked up with a few drinks, Bombay was £20 for 1L, additional staff 20% discount from a friend, £16 for 1L. Without the staff discount the duty free price is not exactly duty free, if it was these prices don’t make any sense, compared to the main supermarkets. Does anyone have some inside information as to how these duty free prices are manufactured!

    • Barrel for Scraping says:
      19 Dec19 December 08:51

      Sometimes the BA High Life Shop has good prices on booze. Normally when some promotion is running. It’s a pre-order service on most flights but you can order it for the return leg if flying BA. When there’s no special offers on the prices are ok but not amazing.

      You can earn Avios but you need to set up a profile in advance on the High Life Shop website and enter your BAEC number.

    • Rhys says:
      19 Dec19 December 09:00

      I find Heathrow and Gatwick actually have some of the cheapest duty free prices…coming back it is normally significantly more!

    • No longer Entitled says:
      19 Dec19 December 09:07

      They may be duty free but also typically priced at a higher margin to the retailer.

    • Londonsteve says:
      19 Dec19 December 10:42

      £12 for 1 litre is an exceptionally good price, that’s usually significantly more in duty free shops elsewhere in the world. I guess it helps that it’s a ‘home’ product. Arrival prices aren’t duty free, they have VAT and duty applied same as any high street shop as you’re no longer airside. It’s a convenient option for those that remember at the last minute that they’ve forgotten to buy a gift for someone they’re about to meet in the arrivals hall but it’s not trying to be price competitive. It helps the perception of prices if many travellers think it’s an extension of duty free when it’s not.

      The Tesco price could well be selling at cost, or even as a ‘loss leader’ simply to get you into the store to undertake your weekly shop. A very competitively priced off licence near where I live in London sells that bottle for £25 and he tells me it’s the lowest he can realistically go bearing in mind the wholesale price.

      More generally duty free shops charge whatever they think they can get away with, it’s not directly related to the high street price minus duty and VAT. Duty free tobacco in the UK, for example, is some of the most expensive in the world because the UK high street price is very high and even after offering a meaningful saving in duty free, it’s still about 3x the price of buying the same in a supermarket in Bulgaria while paying all local taxes. The wholesale price of a carton of 200 cigarettes is generally under £10, the rest is duty and VAT (or profit in the case of a duty free shop).

      • Gordon says:
        19 Dec19 December 11:25

        As you reside in Bulgaria, what is the price comparison compared to the uk?
        Also I guess the your local off license can’t compete with the buying power of the big supermarkets.

        Saying that, Tesco seem to be better priced for spirit sales than Costco, and they have very large buying power.

        I get the lost leader part, but the prices of the certain Gins I spoke of are regularly at that price in Tesco.
        I’m actually intrigued about the mark up percentage, so I will speak to a manager I know to find out.

        • Londonsteve says:
          20 Dec20 December 14:08

          I don’t live in Bulgaria, I was just a regular visitor for many years. My last visit was a year ago and high street prices for alcohol and tobacco remained very low. For spirits they were one third to one half of UK prices (budget and ‘no name’ brands offer the biggest savings as the low pre-tax price combines with the low tax on sprits to generate huge savings), while tobacco was about 80% cheaper than the UK. Savings on tobacco were even larger in airport duty free but alcohol is more expensive than local supermarkets with a selection restricted to the higher price points.

    • ken says:
      19 Dec19 December 11:03

      The price is set at what people will pay.

      Rents & operating costs are high, but it’s a captive audience with time to kill and a borderline compulsion to spend.

      Tobacco I can understand, but saving a couple of quid on a bottle of gin ?
      Seems barely worth it.

      Duty on a litre of spirits (40%) is £11.50 plus VAT

    • newyorkvisitor says:
      19 Dec19 December 20:18

      I suspect the profit margins on “duty free” are higher than the High St…partly due to expensive space rental fees at airports but often down to greed as many travellers have a more relaxed attitude to spend than when at home.

  • Warren says:
    19 Dec19 December 14:27

    “There are some store exclusions to the discount which you can find on this page of the Qatar Airways website but they are impressively few.”

    Click the link and these are the exclusions listed…

    *This offer is not applicable to mass products and products of all electronics, tobacco and toiletry brands as well as cosmetics and perfumes by Chanel, Christian Dior, Hermes- Private Collection, Xerjoff and Casamorati; watches by Bvlgari, Omega, Hublot, Longines, Rado, Tissot, Mido, Swatch, Flik Flak, Hermes, IWC, Breitling, Bell & Ross, Baume & Mercier, Gucci and Tag Heuer (Monaco & Connected); jewellery by Hermes, Gucci, Bvlgari, Tiffany, Moncler and Bottega Veneta; sunglasses by Moncler and fashion by Gucci, Hermes, Bvlgari, Moncler, Kenzo, Bottega Veneta and Loro Piana. Lastly, this offer is not applicable to selected alcohol products, selected food and confectionery, raffle tickets for winning a car, motorbike and $1,000,000, and products sold at all other concession outlets not operated by Qatar Duty Free.

    “Impressively few” apparently means “80% of all products sold in the airport”…

    • Rob says:
      19 Dec19 December 14:53

      Double checked. The list I was given was the exclusion list for EARNING Avios, which is short (Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Dior and Hermes, Al Sulaiman Gold, Pandora and Laderach Chocolate, plus tobacco). The list for discounts when spending Avios is longer as you spotted. Article amended.

  • newyorkvisitor says:
    19 Dec19 December 20:20

    I’m not sure why 0.85p per Avios value ( or 0.5 p for Nectar) can be classified as good when a purchase price of 0.88p on FinnAir Avios sale was deemed a bargain?

    • Rob says:
      19 Dec19 December 20:22

      I don’t see it as good BUT when Nectar was offering 0.8p per Avios there was a significant part of the HfP readership that jumped on it – as you know, so many people moved to Nectar that the conversion rate was devalued TWICE to stop the drain.

      Anyone who was keen on that deal should be keen on this one. And if you never transferred to Nectar when it was 0.8p per Avios I doubt you’ll be keen on this either.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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